Mackie 1604-VLZ3 16 Channel Mixer

Mackie initially introduced their industry revolutionizing portable mixing console, the CR-1604, nearly 20 years ago (yikes!). It’s not only been imitated ad nauseam over that span, but even the designers at Mackie themselves couldn’t leave well enough alone. Behold the Mackie 1604-VLZ3!

The 1604-VLZ3 is built using only the highest quality components. All the knobs, connectors and faders reek of absolute integrity, oozing professional quality at every turn. The solid steel chassis is built to withstand the rigors of daily usage and has the look and feel of a first-class, quality design.

Starting with the XDR2 mic preamps, their extremely low-noise design yields an honest, uncolored, robust signal that make microphones stand up and take notice! Whether singing a gentle, soft ballad or belting out a head-banging, heavy metal meltdown, these mic pres can handle it all without breaking a sweat. These preamps rival costly outboard boutique preamps costing thousands of dollars. The 1604-VLZ3 has 16 of them onboard!

Every channel features 60mm faders, 4 aux sends, inserts, phantom power, Mackie’s constant level pan control, LEDs, mute and solo switches, gain control, 75Hz low-cut filters, and a highly-musical, tone-shapeable 3-band EQ with sweepable mid-range.

The feature-rich output section has the Main Mix fader that sends the signal to the main output jacks as well as the tape output RCA jacks. 4 subgroup faders handle 8 inputs and arrive at the sub-outs or route them to the main mix via the Assign To Main Mix switch. How’s that for versatility?!! 2 columns of LED display provide readouts of multiple functions. Select what you want to monitor in the Source matrix. You can also monitor a single channel when you engage the Solo button of that track.

Around the back of the Mackie 1604-VLZ3 live all the connectors, the gozintas and gozoutas. There are 16 XLR mic inputs, 16 line inputs, 16 balanced insert points, all ¼”, and that’s just for starters! Main L/R outputs, Mono (Subwoofer) output, direct channel outputs, Tape RCA input/output, phantom power switch, main power switch and AC cable connector. So cool is the fact that you can rotate the floating input pod so you are able to rack mount the 1604-VLZ3. There’s also an optional accessory called the ROTOPOD-VLZ that will enable all the rear jacks to be on the same plane as all the mixer controls. Make sure to ask your Sam Ash sales associate about this great option.

The 1604-VLZ3 is rugged and durable, but is completely portable, and it is sonically unrivaled. So whether it be a live PA scenario, house of worship, backyard BBQ, dance club performance or recording studio situation, the Mackie 1604-VLZ3 will provide you with a powerful, pristine, feature-laden, quiet operating mixing solution at a great price. Is it built like a tank? Even better… It’s built like a Mackie!

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